Selective doping of Ni2+ in highly transparent glass-ceramics containing nano-spinels ZnGa2O4 and Zn1+x Ga2-2x Ge x O4 for broadband near-infrared fiber amplifiers

Zhigang Gao; Yinyao Liu; Jing Ren; Zaijin Fang; Xiaosong Lu; Elfed Lewis; Gerald Farrell; Jun Yang; Pengfei Wang

doi:10.1038/s41598-017-01676-6

Selective doping of Ni²⁺ in highly transparent glass-ceramics containing nano-spinels ZnGa₂O₄ and Zn_1+x Ga_2-2x Ge _x O₄ for broadband near-infrared fiber amplifiers

Sci Rep. 2017 May 11;7(1):1783. doi: 10.1038/s41598-017-01676-6.

Authors

Zhigang Gao¹, Yinyao Liu², Jing Ren^{3

4}, Zaijin Fang¹, Xiaosong Lu¹, Elfed Lewis⁵, Gerald Farrell⁶, Jun Yang¹, Pengfei Wang^{7

8}

Affiliations

¹ Key Lab of In-fiber Integrated Optics, Ministry Education of China, Harbin Engineering University, Harbin, 150001, China.
² Key Lab of Materials for High Power Laser, Shanghai Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics, CAS, Shanghai, 201800, China.
³ Key Lab of In-fiber Integrated Optics, Ministry Education of China, Harbin Engineering University, Harbin, 150001, China. ren.jing@hrbeu.edu.cn.
⁴ Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Advanced Laser Materials and Devices, School of Physics and Electronic Engineering, Jiangsu Normal University, Xuzhou, Jiangsu, China. ren.jing@hrbeu.edu.cn.
⁵ Optical Fibre Sensors Research Centre, Department of Electronic and Computer Engineering, University of Limerick, Limerick, Ireland.
⁶ Photonic Research Centre, Dublin Institute of Technology, Kevin Street, Dublin 8, Ireland.
⁷ Key Lab of In-fiber Integrated Optics, Ministry Education of China, Harbin Engineering University, Harbin, 150001, China. pwang@hrbeu.edu.cn.
⁸ Photonic Research Centre, Dublin Institute of Technology, Kevin Street, Dublin 8, Ireland. pwang@hrbeu.edu.cn.

Abstract

Selective doping of Ni²⁺ in octahedral sites provided by nanocrystals embedded in glass-ceramics (GCs) is crucial to the enhancement of broadband near-infrared (NIR) emission. In this work, a NIR emission with a full-width-at-half-maximum (FWHM) of 288 nm is first reported from ZnGa₂O₄: Ni²⁺ nano-spinels embedded GCs with excellent transparency. A comparison is made of the NIR luminescence properties of Ni²⁺ doped GCs containing ZnGa₂O₄, germanium-substituted ZnGa₂O₄ nano-spinels (Zn_1+x Ga_2-2x Ge _x O₄), and Zn₂GeO₄/Li₂Ge₄O₉ composite nanocrystals that are free of Ga³⁺. The results show that ZnGa₂O₄: Ni²⁺ GCs exhibit a significantly enhanced NIR emission. The incorporation of the nucleating agent TiO₂ is favored in terms of the increased luminescence intensity and prolonged lifetime. The possible causes for the enhancement effect are identified from the crystal structure/defects viewpoint. The newly developed GCs incorporate good reproducibility to allow for a tolerance of thermal treatment temperature and hence hold great potential of fiberization via the recently proposed "melt-in-tube" method. They can be considered as promising candidates for broadband fiber amplifiers.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't